Golf tee



W. L'WALKEII.

GOLF TEE. APPLICATION FILED IAN. 2; Iszo.

Patented Nov. 211, 19.22

Patented Nov. 2l, 1922.

NETE@ STATES Parent @tanica GOLFI TEE.

Application filed January 2, 1920. Serial No. 348,919.

To 171 whom z'z may concern.'

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM L. IVALKER, a citizen of the United States,and resident of New York. in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful Improvements in Golf Tees, of whichthe following is a specification.

The invention relates to golf tees, particularly to resilient, portabletees designed to replace sand or other forms of tees commonly used forelevating the golf ball above the surface of the ground.

Portable tees in general use have often been either too bulky or ofinconvenient form not well adapted for carrying, while some portabletees are designed to be cast aside after use, which necessitatescarrying a suicient supply for each game.

The golf tee embodied in the present invention is designed to beconstructed of inexpensive material, may be made of any height, iscompact being easily compressible and. therefore. may be readily carriedin the pocket or golf club bag.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a golf tee madepreferably of resilient wire formed in a spiral or frustoconical shapedcoil and having a seat for the golf ball. thereby providing a resilientt'ee adapted to be readily compressed for carrying, and adapted furtherto offer on account of its resiliency, when struck, no effectiveresistance to the club, and consequently the tee will yield and returnto its normal position.

Another objectis to provide a relatively long'. movable anchoring pinadapted to be inserted in the ground and thereby anchor the tee securelyin position, which constitutes an important feature of the invention.

Another object is to provide an anchoring pin that is freely movable inany direction, .so that its angle may be varied, and it may be insertedin the ground at the angle best suited to securely anchor the tee,whether the ground is soft or hard.

Another obj ect is to attach the anchoring pin to the tee in such amanner that it may be so inserted inkthe ground that the cooperatingloops of the tee and anchoring pin act as a pivot, and consequent-lywhen a poor drive is made and the tee is struck with a club, the blowwill generally cause the tee either to turn over on the loops in theline of the drive or to merely vibrate. Thus I have provided meanshaving all the essential features combined eHectively to produce thedesired results.

Thile added advantages may be afforded by employing a spiral spring toform the body of the tee, I may employ, with certain advantages, a body,preferably frusto-conical in form, of resilient rubber or other suitablematerial.

In order that the nature of my invention may be clearly understood, Ihave illustrated certain embodiments in the accompanying drawings, inwhich,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of another embodiment of the invention bywhich the ball may be elevated higher than in the form shown in Fig. 1;y

Figure 3 is a side elevation of still another embodiment showing a formhaving a wide ball seat;

Figure 4 is a side view of a tee similar to that shown in Fig. 1 whencompressed for carrying;

Figure 5 is a plan view of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a side elevation of still another embodiment showing va teemade o"A resilient rubber or other suitable material.

The particular embodiment of my invention illustrated in Fig. 1comprises a spiral, frusto-conical shaped coil of Wire 1, preferablyresilient, having its convolutions extending upwardly from its base 2 ina. continually diminishing curvature toward the center. The upperconvolution constitutes a ball seat 3 which is in a horizontal planeparallel to the base 2. The lower convolution 2 has its end formed intoa loop 5 extending laterall)1 in substantially the same longitudinalplane as the lower convolution or base 2 and having a relatively longmovable anchoring pin 6 attached to the tee by a loop 7 the anchoringpin 6 being adapted tobe inserted in the ground so as to securely anchorthe tee in position. The pin 6 being freely movable in any direction canreadily be inserted inthe ground, straight down or at any angle desiredor kthat may be necessary, in order to properly anchor the tee. This isan important feature of the invention, since unless the tee is securelyanchored to the ground, in case of a tially the same as that shown inFig. 1 with.

the exception that the spiral coil of wire 8 has an upwardly extending-p ortion 9 of convolutions of the same circumference terminating in aball seat 10, similar to that vin the form shown in Fig. 1. This tee islikewise provided with a lower convolution orbase l1 having a loop 12coacting with a loop 13 of a movable pin 14. This form of tee may beused to give greater elasticity to the tee than the form shown in Fig.1.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 the tee comprises a spiral coil 15having a lower convolution or base 16 provided with a loop 17, and amovable pin 19 attached to the lower convolution by a loop 18. vAbovethe spiral coil 15 is an outwardly flaring portion 20 of convolutionsgradually increasing in circumference, the upper convolution 21 forminga ball seat. In this form the tee has greater elasticity and the ball Bis permitted to rest more deeply in the ball seat than inthe forms shownin Figs. 1 and 2. As shown in 'Figs 4 and 5, on the end of the lowerconvolution 2 is the loop 4 under'and behind which the free end of theanchoring pin 6 is adapted to be inserted,

when the coil 1 is compressed and thus held in a flat position forcarrying. By employing the arrangement of parts shown, the coil 1 isheldin a compact and readily portable form, while by merely releasingthe anchoring pin 6 from engagement with the loop 4 the coil 1 expandsinto operative position and the tee is ready for use.

The species of the' present invention shown in Fig. 6 comprises afrusto-conical shaped body 22 made preferably of resilient material suchas moulded rubber, etc., having a base 23 provided with an opening 24,in which is inserted the loop 25 of a movable pin V26 while the upperedge 27 constitutes a ball seat, which may be made wide or narrow as maybe desired.

original shape after deformation by a blow, and an anchoring pinpivotally attached to said device adjacent to its lower end.

3. A golf tee comprising a spiral, frustoconical shaped coil ofresilient wire,/and an anchoring pin pivotally attached to the lowerconvolution thereof so as to be disposedat various angles with relationto the said tee.

4. A golf tee comprising a spiral, frustoconical shaped coil ofresilient wire, the upper convolution of the said coil forming a ballvseat, the lower convolution forming the base of the tee, and ananchoring pin movably attached to the said lower convolution.

5,. A golf tee comprisinga spiral, frustoconical shaped coil ofresilient wire, the

upper convolution of the saidy coil forming` a ball seat, the lowerconvolution forming the base of the tee, a loop on the end of the saidlower convolution, and an anchoring pin provided with a loop on itsupper end connected with the lower convo-lution, the free end of theanchoring pin being adapted to cooperate with the loop on the lowerconvolution to retain the tee in compressed condition.

6. A golf tee comprising a spiral coil of wire, a pin pivoted on thecoil of wire and adapted to cooperate with a loop on the coil to holdthe coil in a flattened condition.

7. AV golf tee comprising a spiral, frustoconical coil of resilientwire, a pin pivotally attached to the lower convolution, a loop on theend of the lower convolution, the pin being adapted to cooperate withthe loop to retain the coil in a flattened condition.

Signed by me at New York, New York, this 13 day of December, 1919.

WILLIAM L. WALKER.

